In My Humble Opinion

 

Oh dear how thick am I!!!!!! I agree and will most likely take your advice. Where best to sell though? Europe UK USA ?

 

First get the watch back from service immediately before they do anything to the watch that might tarnish it and the value. Second my recommendation is to contact Mr. Eric Wind from Christies auction house, he is an expert on Universal Geneve and I trust you'll be in very good hands for selling your watch.

As far as value goes I think $40k is a little presumptuous but if you have original boxes and papers and the watch is in all orginal and nice condition anything is possible.

Good luck

 

John,
With all due respect, what is "A1" to you may not be A1 to a collector. Please trust the advise of those on this board.

I can tell you several stories...but just recently I purchased a vintage watch and the seller had the same attitude. He insisted on sending the watch to the manufacture in Switzerland to have it serviced prior to the sale under the assumption that only the manufacture can properly restore the watch. The watch came back looking "A-1", they replaced the pushers, the crown, the crystal, one of the hands and "serviced" the watch. The cost was over $1000. He should have taken the $1000 and put it in a paper shredder.

Yes, to the novice the watch looked brand new. Sadly they totally botched the job. The pushers, crown and crystal are all "original" parts...but completely wrong for the watch. Fortunately they returned the original parts...so now I need to send the watch to a competent watchmaker that understands what a true sympathetic restoration means and put all the original parts back on the watch. What a disaster.

For the love of god, don't touch the watch!

 

I have never ever heard of a watchmaker that charges "a % of value" to service a watch. Get your watch back as soon as possible.

 

The guy I worked with at ABC alluded to the practice. He didn't say who and I think he meant that some charge more in general for more valuable watches rather than a strict percentage of value. After all, who would decide the value?

To the OP, I agree with what has been said here. The worst thing to do is polish or have parts replaced. The more that is original, the more valuable it is. And if you can demonstrate it has never been serviced at all, that helps establish originality. Internal photos, though, will help.

 

If not typical it is at least not uncommon that watchmakers charge more for more valuable watches - the reason being that there is more risk handling them and the owner might perhaps expect extremely careful handling. The tiniest scratch will be more heavily scrutinized - if a screw breaks there will be greater annoyance - and that is what makes the difference between servicing a Seiko and a Patek.

 

Could you please share more pictures of this beauty? Do you have box & papers? A Nina with the applied UG logo could fetch lots of interest if in good condition and is honest.
If I were you, I would:
1. Keep the watch as original as possible (i.e. don't replace parts or polish).
2. Wear it

If you want to sell it, use an auction house for maximum exposure and dollars.

 

Just woken up. 6 am over here. Thanks for all the comments which I will take on board. The only comment I would make is that this watch is only valuable due to association to motor racing stars of the time and not necessarily its pedigree! with no association it would only be worth $2000 ish!
During the 60's and 70's unfortunately the packaging was not that important!!!! so no box etc. Even the original straps were discarded as indeed you will see from photo of Nina Rindt! it was all about the band under the watch. SORRY Of to work now thanks for advice so far JohnX

 

I can only echo mych of ehats been said in that by sending it for a service, you have very little to gain in monetary terms and potentially a lot to lose.

I really would heed the advice here and cancel the service and consign it 'as is', in its unadulterated condition. Collectirs go nuts for watches in original condition. Far less so for watches that have had a recent service, as there are suspicions about what has and hasn't been done.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing.

 

Hello,

Congratulation, it's a very nice watch, but the 40k value estimate comes probably from the hodinkee article https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/found-tropical-universal-genve-nina-rindt-compax-chronograph ,if you read it closely the value mentionned is for a "...a tropical Rolex Daytona 6241 (also with pump pushers and black bezel) will set you back about $40,000 by comparison...", not for this UG Compax.
For 40k you can easily get the very rare 46mm compax and still save 10k.
Anyway there is still a nice benefit remaining.

 

Actually, I believe he's likely referring to the result from the last Christie's auction, which was $47,500.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/nina-rindt-at-christies.32995/

 

You're right, I can't believe it !

 

Saw that piece in person. It was the best Nina I've seen (will see perhaps) and the best condition piece I saw of both their Dec. auctions. It also included b&p if I recall correctly. Hence the strong interest.

 

What would that Nina have sold for three years ago, huh?

 

Yeahhhh, you can play that game with just about any sought-after watch these days though. Compax, Tri-Compax, Carrera, early Autavia, cal 321 Speedies, and the list goes on....

 

Great watch. If you sell on EBay remember 13% goes to Ebay/PayPal. If HODINKEE features it on their Bring A Loupe series you will get much exposure. Make sure servicing does not include polishing and that they use original parts. I would love to see what the hammer price will be. Keep us in the loop

 

Don't worry I am in control. I wont sell on e bay for sure. Maybe direct to a collector or a good dealer. I love this watch as it was my first chronosport type watch so I will be a bit fussy who the buyer is (it must go to a good home) or it will stay with me

 

Don't do this to me!! I might not sell ! Mine is pretty good for the age and I bought it new myself in Switzerland . One owner from new . Got to be worth something.